Suspicion clouds Xoagub’s election as NNOC president

Abner Xoagub has been elected president of the Namibia Olympic Committee (NNOC) at the Olympic movement’s General Assembly in Windhoek last week.

Xoagub has been acting in the position since March, following the resignation of Agnes Tjongarero, who was appointed Deputy Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service.
In a statement issued by the NNOC, Xoagub was apparently unopposed for the plum position, although details are sketchy as to which sports codes his nomination and seconding were derived from.

He has been serving as vice president of NNOC since January 2013 before taking over the reins from the departing Tjongarero. Xoagub’s term expires in November next year when the NNOC holds its next Elective General Assembly as prescribed by the Olympic Cycle.

Former NNOC executive board member Jesse Schickerling was elected as Xoagub’s deputy, while Johan Kruger also joined the gravy train, as additional board member. The NNCO General Assembly has been condemned for offering the lap of luxury to a small group of elites hell-bent on advancing their own agendas.

Strong Olympic affiliates, such as boxing, football and rugby, did not bother to contest the election, as they are not comfortable with what they termed the outdated methodology of voting, where outgoing members are allowed to vote.

“It’s a recycle of the very same faces every time, so with such a shoddy method, the status quo would remain intact,” charged an aggrieved sports official, who requested that his identity be withheld for fear of reprisals.
Another top official also questioned the authenticity of the nominations and wanted to know what criteria were used to alert and rather attract interest from potential candidates to enter the race. “That’s such a high profile position, and you want to come and tell people, the candidate was unopposed – it just tells you that there were some flaws with the entire process, something is fishy here”.